A blood-stained body of a woman staff of the Balangir Municipality was recovered near the waste management plant at Bijakhaman on Sunday. The deceased was identified as Astami Bakul, a driver of a waste management vehicle.
As per reports, Astami had gone missing soon after parking the vehicle at the waste management plant on Saturday evening. It was suspected that she was murdered as there are injury marks on her body.
Sources said that after parking the vehicle, she was returning home on her bicycle when she was attacked by miscreants. Though the exact motive of the attack was yet to be ascertained, it was suspected that the miscreants assaulted her with an intention to loot valuables.
Two days back, two teachers had also been attacked by miscreants at the same stretch of road which is a secluded area. Despite this, no step was allegedly taken by police to intensify patrolling in the area.